


Sarada Week (9/11) - Modern AU Prompt

by Dayntee



Category: Boruto: Naruto Next Generations
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-11
Updated: 2018-09-11
Packaged: 2019-09-22 09:37:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17057354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dayntee/pseuds/Dayntee
Summary: Stuck tutoring an ungrateful Boruto, Sarada reflects on her successes despite an absentee family and wonders what, exactly, she’s missing in her life. An exercise in translating Sarada’s difficulties into the modern world.





	Sarada Week (9/11) - Modern AU Prompt

**Author's Note:**

> Day 2 of Sarada Week has to do with the theme “Modern AU.” Caveats: All my vignettes are only following two rules. The first is that I don’t go back and review them. They’re a brain dump, written from beginning to end, and have no proof-reading. That’s the only way I’m going to get these done! The second is they will all be at least 500 words. That way I ensure that they’re a sizable, meaningful effort. 
> 
> Word count: 742

Sarada raised her hand to her face, gently cupping her forehead with her thumb and index finger outstretched. 

“Okay. We’ll go over it again, seeing as I don’t get to leave until you get it. Let’s use more round numbers, maybe it’ll be easier that way,” she began jotting down a few more examples before sliding the paper over to the clearly frustrated blonde boy across from her. His blue eyes skimmed over the sheet briefly before he crinkled his nose in distaste.

“Sarada, this is the same exact crap we just went over, and it makes just as little sense this time around,” she sighed exasperatedly at him and rested her face in both hands in defeat. 

“I give up. I swear to god, I have never seen someone so confused over decimals in my life. It’s really not that-”

“Maybe not for you, Ms. Straight-A, I’m-an-Uchiha-genuis!” Boruto stood up and crossed his arms, clearly as done as she was with their study group. 

“Listen you ungrateful moron, it wasn’t my choice to tutor you! The only reason I’m doing this is because our parents are friends. Otherwise I wouldn’t be caught dead with a loser like you!” That got the reaction she was looking for. His head whipped back up and his eyebrow twitched. Boruto was far from being known for his intelligence. He skated by in Konoha High on his father’s laurels, whether he wanted to or not. When he wasn’t thrown into detention for covering the trophy case in graffiti, he was skipping class to go learn more “practical” skills. 

‘Quite frankly, I don’t want to know what those are,’ Sarada thought to herself, and she gave him a withering look.

“You can’t talk to me like that!” he spat back, and Sarada calmly began to collect her books and supplies into her bag. 

“I can talk to you however I want,” she replied firmly, “Not only because I’m smarter than you are, but because I’ll actually get somewhere in life.”

Boruto slammed a fist onto the table in the empty classroom they’d commandeered for their study session. “Yeah? Maybe if my dad cared about my education, I wouldn’t have to be stuck spending my afternoons with you!”

Sarada rolled her eyes. That excuse again. “Dude, your dad is the mayor. Of course he’s not going to be around. He’s got more important things to do than take care of a whiny, ungrateful brat who can’t do simple multiplication.”

The boy huffed at her. “Don’t be so damn smug. Just because your dad’s never around doesn’t mean you understand!”

Sarada dropped her backpack onto the chair next to her with a thud, glaring across the table. “Don’t you talk to me about my dad. You understand  _nothing_  about me or my family. You hardly understand your own!” 

“I’m not dealing with this anymore,” Boruto grabbed his bag and slung it carelessly over his shoulder. “I’m out,” 

“FINE, GO AHEAD AND FAIL OUT,” Sarada shouted after him as he left the room. Once she was sure he was gone, she sat back down in her chair with a deep, long breath. Her heart was racing, her blood pressure high; who the hell did Boruto think he was? He didn’t understand.  _No one understood._  Her mom was always at the hospital and her father was always deployed. She didn’t know the last time she hadn’t been home alone. 

She reached into her bag, pulling out a folded, worn photograph, and stared at it. It was the three of them, the whole Uchiha family, but taken many years ago. The edges of the photo were tattered and the creases from the folds ran almost perfectly perpendicular in a way that separated Sarada from her father. Almost like it was on purpose.

Her mother, Sakura, was wonderful... when she was around. She couldn’t blame her; she was one of the best surgeons in the city. Both her parents did important work, she reminded herself. 

‘So why did they bother having me?’ the photo trembled in her hand, and she realized she was shaking. She quickly folded it up and put it away, worried in a fit of emotion she’d crumple or tear one of the only pieces of proof she had of her family. She quickly grabbed the rest of her things and made towards the door—she’d have plenty of time to think about it on the long, lonely walk home.


End file.
